


806

by 8aen



Category: Etrian Odyssey Series, 新・世界樹の迷宮2 ファフニールの騎士 | Etrian Odyssey Untold 2: The Fafnir Knight
Genre: Autistic Character, Multi, Nonbinary Character, Other, Trans Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-02
Updated: 2016-05-01
Packaged: 2018-05-17 18:51:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 2,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5881726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/8aen/pseuds/8aen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>collection of short ideas that I like and may revamp another time.<br/>(<a href="https://youtu.be/1Z8BTVx03TA">complete</a>)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> fafnir's pov

"Hey, are you feeling alright?" Flavio is looking straight at you. They sound out of breath. There's something wrong with your arm. You can't quite meet Flavio's eyes and your gaze settles at the space between their eyebrows. "I'm not sure," you respond. Words feel different coming out of your mouth; slow, scratching the roof of your mouth. One of your arms feel heavier. You can't look down to see what's wrong with it and you can't look at Flavio directly so you stare at the pink shell of Arianna's ear and suggest to the group, "Why don't we go back to High Lagaard?"


	2. Chapter 2

Fafnir thinks it’s interesting, how water changes. Usually he doesn’t like changes, things that stay the same are the easiest to remember and deal with. Water is different.

He likes the way it feels on his skin, but wearing damp clothes makes it hard to breathe and makes his skin crawl. He likes the way it feels in baths and pools, but hates the way it hits him in drops during showers or rain.

What Fafnir really likes is the pressure of the water surrounding him. The feeling of surface tension beneath his palms. The way it distorts and muffles all the noise in the air. The sound of it against his skin or the sides of the tub. The way it quiets the colors in his surroundings and how it lacks scent or taste. The sight of the ceiling light glinting off the surface and pastel walls - almost watercolor

Bathing with others doesn't really make it different, only adding more skin and having to press himself against his side of a too-small space. In a way, it's nicer than being alone.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> nonbinary flavio aesthetics

Flavio is honey and flowers and the soft autumn sun. They’re knitted jumpers and scarves and soft tan boots. They’re fresh air and nature, the sound of birds singing. They're leather bound books and overstocked libraries. They’re journals with half the words crossed out, scribbles and ink smears and missing pages. They’re stretching after being hunched over all day and rolling off the edge of a bed, burrowing in blankets. They’re torch light and held breaths. They’re hand written love notes and subtle glances across a classroom. They’re desperate searches and hidden castles and ghost stories by firelight. They’re the mystery of a dark corridor, the force of a whirlwind. They’re the excitement of discovery, the rustle of crunched up paper. They’re the last whisper before Fafnir falls asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> arianna/fafnir/flavio ,,
> 
> (arianna's pov)
> 
> ((after finding around Armoroad, "the South"?))

You stop getting butterflies when you start living together. Your heart no longer speeds up when you see them, but instead, everything calms down. When you're together in the room with them, you feel calm and secure. When you cuddle with them you feel your heart beat slow, and the sound of their breathing carries you towards comfort. It doesn't feel like a roller coaster anymore, it feels like home.

You don't sleep curled around each other every night, legs twisted so tight that it's hard to tell when yours begin and theirs end. Instead, you sleep comfortably, side by side by side, sometimes facing different directions. You snuggle against Fafnir's arm or stroke Flavio's hair as they fall asleep. There are nights when one pulls you close, like you are their comfort.

You gravitate towards each other, instead of having your own personal space and their separate spaces, it's the three of yours together.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> trans guy fafnir is my strongest hc probably
> 
> (flavio's pov)

You take a step back, keeping your eyes on Fafnir. That seems like the right thing to do; the way his eyes meet yours briefly, darting away as if that slightest contact hurts, tongue licking at his lower lip and

"That's not—" he says, "That isn't my name, Arianna."

You see his throat working, a swallow or trying to bite back a sob, so you take two steps forward and choose your words carefully to explain.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cool guy stims and has a good time
> 
> (unsanitary warning)

Fafnir's teeth break through his thumbnail. Reflex prompts him to bite down harder and pull, breaking a piece clean off. Sharp pain catches him off guard. He spits out the now-useless thumbnail and looks at yet another nail bitten to the quick. Angry darkened skin shines where the white tip of a thumbnail once existed. He methodically picks and peels off skin around each fingernail, pulling off hangnails until everything feels better. Once he's finished, Arianna make sure his hands are washed with soap and water.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> genderfluid trand & agender chloe ,,

Bertrand spends some of his free time in Chloe's room.

He and Chloe have an understanding they don't talk about. She doesn't lock her room, and he puts everything back where he finds it. Bertrand doesn't anyone about the suits, ties and too-big clothes hanging neatly at the far end of her wardrobe, and sometimes, she leaves make-up lying around that's for girls whose coloring tends more to blonde than pink.

Violetta showed him how to do it, once, years ago. They don't talk about that, either.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> violetta is a favorite

a call went out to the divine: "I cannot go on."  
and the divine proclaimed: "You will continue."

a call went out to the divine: "I am so alone."  
and the divine proclaimed: "You may find love in me, and everything I've protected."


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not very canon compliant but ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

Fafnir is fifteen when his desire to just be around Flavio turns into something more, and he is afraid, horribly afraid that he will grow to depend on them. He is horrified by the idea of telling anyone else that something might be wrong with him, fearful of any mistake he might make to show them that he is not quite all there, and so he stays quiet.

-

Fafnir is seventeen when he gets Arianna to ask Flavio out for him. His mind is screaming, telling him _no, don’t do this to yourself_ and he stands in a corner, occasionally ruffling his hair and biting his nails and trying desperately not to rip them clean off. Arianna reassures him, tells him it’ll be fine, but Fafnir is missing most of his left index finger’s nail when she drags a smiling Flavio back to him. Fafnir hides his left hand in his pocket and holds out his right for Flavio to take as majestically as he can manage. Fafnir is powerful. Fafnir is brave. Fafnir is not weak. Fafnir is not scared.

Flavio takes his hand and the storm in his head quiets for a second.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warning for parent death, misgendering, ableism

Fafnir is devastated by his parents' deaths.

He knows he will always remember seeing the sailboat go down in bay, and he knows he will never again believe in any gods who would let such a thing happen. In the span of one day he loses his father, his mother, and his faith; three of the most comforting things in his uncomfortable life.

Fafnir is sent to the Midgard Library and he is always uncomfortable. His clothes don't feel right. He can't stop fidgeting no matter how much he berates himself. Almost everyone avoids him, except Flavio. The only people who paid him any attention were his parents, and now they're both lying at the bottom of the bay.

He knows he should show something, but nothing happens. He spends the next several days, including the funeral, with the same far-eyed stare he normally wears.

"You don't even care,” Juniper, his roommate hisses at him. “Your mother and father died and you don't even _care_!"

"Yes, I do," Fafnir says, voice outstandingly flat in comparison to the wild fluctuations of Juniper's.

"I don't think you do! You just have the same face you always do, where you just stare off at nothing! You probably don't even have feelings!"

Fafnir's fists curl and uncurl at his sides. He wants to prove to Juniper that he feels something, anything, but the only thing he can seem to express is done through the small movements of his hands.

"And you can't even talk. You always get like this when we fight, like a little girl."

Fafnir requests a different room assignment.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just , leaving trand in ginnungagap for the night

Chloe sobs, and lifts her head to gaze sightlessly at him. Her voice is soft and faltering and edged with desperation. Fafnir hopes he's never sounded like that before.

-

Fafnir wants to say something, but instead rests his hand on Arianna's shoulder. She surveys him, sidelong, and the taut lines of anger disappear from her face.

"I see," she says, contempt forgotten. Fafnir is glad for the controlled calm of Arianna's voice. "You needn't say anything."

Reassuring his comrades, Fafnir thinks, is easier than reassuring himself.

-

There are other parts of Fafnir, whose thoughts roam restlessly through his mind in a hazy, tangled snarl.

When he sleeps he thinks of warmth and sand, gritty against his skin. Dreams, Flavio had called them, when they peered over his shoulder to read his journal. Dreams are illusions made reality. Dreams are where the repressed subconscious vents.

-

Fafnir wakes up cold and trembling, to Arianna's heel digging into his hipbone; he finds himself curled against Flavio and Chloe and his back hurts all the way down his spine. His shoulders ache and his neck is cramped but it's a small price to pay for having his friends surrounding him, staving away the silence with the soothing rhythm of their breathing. 

 


	12. Chapter 12

arianna's aesthetics

  * hands in soft fur
  * mismatched socks
  * daisy chains
  * thousand year crowns, weight of nobility
  * hand stinging after a slap to the left cheek
  * mathematics lessons, graph paper
  * sticky kisses over pancakes
  * cool kisses after shared ice cream
  * interactions between sunlight and shadows
  * curling toes in wet sand
  * pastel sundresses
  * two golden lockets
  * xiuan



**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (ok ,, ok ,, what if Arianna was related to the Medium from eo4 ,,)


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for 100 views!

Flavio laughs and Fafnir, selfishly, almost doesn't want anyone else to hear it.

-

"I'm not the knight in shining armor you think I am." Fafnir closes his eyes briefly before continuing. "You're looking for me to save you. To fill some void, to be your happiness. I can't do that." It's the longest he's said all day, and his words may be harsh, but Chloe needs to hear them. Her defeated look tells Fafnir she knows he's right, too. Chloe squeezes her paper cup of cocoa tightly.

"But then, what am I supposed to do?"

"I don't think anyone knows the answer to that."

"Oh. That's... scary."

"it is, isn't it?" Fafnir suspects he isn't helping. "I'm sorry. I know I said we were going to have fun today."

"We still have plenty of time."

Chloe comes to a stop outside of Sitoth Trading. A mannequin head sits in the window wearing a necklace with a ruby pendant, which she clearly envies. Fafnir taps her on the shoulder and tells her he needs to use the restroom; she nods and waits outside as he heads into the store.

Fafnir walks back out with a jewelry box, an eight thousand en hole in his wallet and no regrets. The look in Chloe's eyes as she opens it, her smile as he carefully drapes the chain around her neck, is payment enough.

That selfishness of his rears its head again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm glad romantic fafnir/chloe is not a thing, because chloe's -18.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [a reference for some etrian odyssey calenders](http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/997793-etrian-odyssey-iv-legends-of-the-titan/65723232)
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> warning for alcohol use
> 
> (also I do not think an older Xiuan would go to High Laagard... but if she did...)

It was 25 Demiurge and Flavio had been expecting the Stickleback Bar to be empty, what with all the family gatherings and holiday dinners. But the place was packed: couples having drinks before going home, singles looking to hook up, friends getting shit-faced and shouting loudly at each other. It was overwhelming, very human and crass.

Flavio was well on their own way to getting shit-faced when someone sat on the stool next to them and said, "Pretty thing sitting all alone here, imagine that."

"Are you," said Flavio, waving a hand when the words failed their alcohol-befuddled brain. "Hitting on me?"

"Oh my god," said the girl. A girl, Flavio realised, had just come on to them. What was the world coming to? They had to admit that she was rather pretty, with a gentle face framed by wispy bangs. But that wasn’t the point. The point was—

"I thought you were a girl and you looked lonely, so I went to ask if you wanted to hang out with me and my friends," the girl said, in a rush. She was blushing, covering her mouth with her hands. "Oh my god, I’m so sorry. It was a joke, and I just.."

"You’re nice," said Flavio, surprised into honesty.

She lowered her hands so they could see her smile. "Everyone’s nice if you give them a chance."

Flavio stood up; hand resting on the back of their chair for balance when it seemed like the world was turning upside down on them and gave her a weak smile. Before the girl could ask them if they were all right (she was just like that, she had the sort of face that worried over other people too much), they left enough en to cover their tab on the counter and left.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> m hm

The ocean beckoned to Fafnir even as a young child, the allure of the unknown pulling at his mind until he could think of nothing else but the smell of saltwater and the feeling of a damp breeze through his hair.

-

“Are you okay?” 

That was foolish to ask. Of course he wasn’t. So… he had to be better than she thought he was? Maybe. 

“I’m alright,” he said. 

That’s it, he just - said it, as if trying to shrug off her question, or trying vainly to ease her worry. Chloe prided herself in the ability to discern people’s emotions, despite having trouble showing them herself; so if she couldn't read Fafnir's… 

She walked closer to his side, and realized he was staring at the entrance to Yggdrasil now. Flavio, Arianna and Bertrand were already inside, and they could catch up to them easily. 

“Fafnir?” She started, almost a bit cautiously. “It doesn’t have to be alright.” 

The War Magus began walking to the Yggdrasil labyrinth first, and she didn’t have to turn around to know Fafnir was following her. 

That was... something, she supposed.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bertrand..

He is good at keeping things to himself. Some might say he’s good at lying, but he tends to avoid outright falsehoods as much as he can. Too complicated. Too many opportunities to trip yourself up. The key to hiding truth is a good poker face and learning when to hold your tongue, two things he had done long before arriving in High Lagaard.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what happened in the story mode ending i cant remember
> 
> (arianna pov)

fafnir eases his hand forward slowly, shakily, and moves your limp, matted hair out of your eyes. you can’t speak, or move at all really. you’ve never seen him cry before.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> getting warmer here

Fafnir takes a walk along the beachfront. It’s cool outside and heavy with morning dew. Palm trees line a path that's mostly empty, except for a few joggers. He pauses to taste the air at some point.


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> flav :^)

When you’re on watch, no noise is harmless and no shadow can be ignored.


	20. Chapter 20

The sun is low and waves crash against the shore.

It’s a pretty sunset, the kind of dappled pink sky that burns into a deep orange on the horizon before fading into dusk.

Chloe sits and watches the night sky change overhead, listening to snatches of conversation as people pass her by.


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hi............ i love violetta

She is anchored in their eyes and she feels real.


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> starting to replay eo3

It’s a good day, and tomorrow will be a good day; he has a ship and he has his guild, and Fafnir cannot imagine he will ever have a day that isn’t good again. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> today i've finished both story and classic modes of eo2u, plus post-game content. i think it's time for me to end this collection. thank you very much for reading.


End file.
